Healthy Outlook Blog

Tricia’s did. She credits a free app, In Case of Emergency (ICE), with saving her life two days after she downloaded it, when she was in a car accident and her head hit the window. Paramedics arrived to find her unconscious.

The ICE app is as simple as it is innovative. One click on the red cross icon reveals the smartphone owner’s emergency contact details, blood type, allergies, medications, health insurance details, and other vital information.

Tricia, who has several medical conditions, including herniated discs in her lower back, wears a spinal cord stimulator implant and so cannot have MRIs. “The magnetic force could literally pull the device out of my skin or at least completely dislodge the whole system,” she explained in an email to The Jared Company, which developed ICE. She was advised to get a MedicAlert bracelet, but “due to finances…it’s going to be a bit before I can get one with enough room for the info I need to put on it.” So she recorded that information in her ICE app.

An EMT on the scene checked her cell phone for emergency information. By clicking on the ICE icon, paramedics found not only contact information for Tricia’s husband but also critical medical information that warned them not to give her the MRI an unconscious accident victim otherwise would undergo as a matter of course.

Not every user will have such a dramatic experience, but Michael Kader, a director of The Jared Company, hopes her story will inspire more people to store emergency medical data on their smartphones. It’s a bit of a demographic battle: “Most application consumers for smartphones are younger, and younger people don’t generally think about medical issues,” he says. Conversely, older consumers who do think about those issues are less likely to spend time searching app stores. But like Tricia, smartphone users in all age groups can benefit from keeping their medical information easily accessible from their phones.

CONNECT THE DOTS

To learn more about what your smartphone can do to protect your health and perhaps even save your life, check out the diet, fitness, and medical apps available for download through Blackberry App World, Android Market, or the iPhone App Store on iTunes.